Supporting People standards

A comprehensive framework is in place to ensure that Supporting People services are as good quality and as effective as possible. The Supporting People team is responsible for implementing this framework and making sure standards are maintained.

There are different sets of standards and frameworks to look at different aspects of services. These are laid out below:

Quality Assessment Framework (QAF)

The Quality Assessment Framework (also known as the QAF) is a set of standards for delivery of the service. It shows how services are providing support and whether good practice measures have been implemented to make it as effective as possible.

It asks that service users be fully involved in their support and have the opportunity to comment on the policies and procedures within the service. It also asks that services work in a joined up way so that the best possible support can be provided.

Every year, providers of Supporting People services have to tell Supporting People Team how they are progressing with the QAF.The Supporting People Team expect there to be improvement made every year until a standard of excellence is reached.

For more information about the Quality Assessment Framework the 2005-2006 QAF performance summary gives an overview of how services improved in over this period.

Performance indicators

Performance indicators are sets of numeric data which give an idea of how well a service is working. They might not tell the whole story, but often act as a trigger to find out more about a service.

The Supporting People Team collects two sets of performance indicators on a regular basis: national performance indicators and local performance indicators.

National performance indicators

Each service provides these indicators to Supporting People every three months. These indicators are ‘national’ because every Supporting People service in the country provides them. Once received by Supporting People Team they are checked and analysed and then they are passed to central government, so it also has an idea of how well services are doing.

National indicators include:

How many service users are staying independent
How many hours support are being delivered by service staff
How well the service is being utilised (i.e. is it full or are there any vacancies?)

Performance Indicator descriptions gives more detailed definitions of what is collected under the national performance indicator framework.

2005/06 summary performance data (PDF: 32KB) is an overview of how well Supporting People services are performing under this framework.

Local performance indicators

Local indicators show more detail about the service, and concentrate on what happens for service users (also known as ‘outcomes’ for service users). This information is collected annually from services.

Different services provide different information, depending on what they were set up to do. Examples of local indicators include:

How many service users have a support plan
How many service users are registered with a GP
How many service users have a job, or are in training or education
How many service users need move-on accommodation.

This information hopefully shows that services are doing their job and making sure what happens for service users is positive. It also helps Supporting People Team plan for the future.

All performance indicator returns are checked by the Supporting People Team and if there are any issues these are discussed with the service provider.

Service reviews

From time to time Supporting People team carry out service reviews. These are an opportunity for a full and frank look at services, how they are performing and whether they are providing positive opportunities and outcomes for the service users.

The team spend time at the service, talk to staff, meet service users and look at everything to do with the service in detail.

Since Supporting People started, all services have now received at least one review.

As a result of reviews a decision is made whether the service should continue, whether the service should change or whether it should cease. These are very important decisions which are not taken lightly.

The Supporting People Commissioning Board is responsible for making these decisions.

For more information on decision making processes please visit the strategy and meetings section.

Contract monitoring

Every year Supporting People Team and the provider of the service meet in person to discuss each service. The meetings are mostly concerned with contract compliance, but also gives an opportunity to talk about any issues and make plans for the future.

The emphasis, as with all the standards discussed here, is that services should continue to improve so that service users get the best possible service.